Ithaca College

Guest cellist Dennis Parker will present a free recital at Ithaca College on Wednesday, January 25. The performance will begin at 7:00 p.m. in the Hockett Family Recital Hall in the James J. Whalen Center for Music. Pianist Jennifer Hayghe will collaborate in a program entitled "Stolen Sonatas." All the music on the program was originally composed for instruments other than the cello, and has been transcribed by Parker. Works of Debussy, Enescu, and Poulenc will be included.

Parker appears frequently as soloist, recitalist, collaborator, and guest professor at numerous universities and festivals. A member of the faculty at Louisiana State University since 1988, he was principal cellist of the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra and Brazil's Porto Alegre Symphony Orchestra. He also performed with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

In recent years, Parker has researched, performed, and recorded works of composers who perished in the Holocaust. Constantly involved with the expansion of the existing cello repertoire, Parker has transcribed many works for his instrument. He is presently working on a first recording of David Popper's "Studies for Cello" as well as recordings of a selection of his sonata transcriptions.

The Ithaca College School of Music offers some 300 free concerts each academic year. More information on these performances is available by calling (607) 274-3717 or visiting www.ithaca.edu/concerts.